The Simpsons creator gets new Netflix show
First Springfield, now Dreamland. Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, has signed a 20-episode deal with Netflix for a new animated show, Disenchantment, that takes place in a medieval kingdom.
The series, aimed at an adult audience, will feature voice acting from Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre and Nat Faxon as various characters in the “crumbling” kingdom of Dreamland. According to a statement from Netflix, there will be “ogres, sprites, harpies, imps, trolls, walruses and lots of human fools.” The voice-over cast also includes The Simpsons veterans Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille.
Groening said in the statement that “Disenchantment will be about life and death, love and sex, and how to keep laughing in a world full of suffering and idiots, despite what the elders and wizards and other jerks tell you.”
The show will land 10 episodes at a time on Netflix starting in 2018. Groening and Josh Weinstein — who worked on The Simpsons for seven seasons in the ’90s — will executive produce. The New York Times
Titanic stars on the auction block
The heart will go on a date!
Titanic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are serving themselves up for charity, auctioning off a private dinner with the two of them at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’s fourth annual gala on Thursday, according to E! News and People. The dinner is among the many items available for bidders at the star-studded event taking place in Saint-Tropez, France. The Jack and Rose rendezvous will take place sometime in October or November, given the Oscar winners’ busy schedules, at a New York City restaurant of the winner’s choosing, according to People.
DiCaprio and Winslet have been openly supportive of each other’s careers since James Cameron’s blockbuster shipwreck film turned them into international superstars in1997. The two famously reunited at the 2016 Golden Globes when DiCaprio earned the lead actor prize for his role in The Revenant. Los Angeles Times
Daniel Craig back for more Bond
Daniel Craig will play James Bond in at least one more film.
London-based Eon Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which holds rights to the franchise, said Monday the next instalment would arrive in theatres in North America on Nov. 8, 2019. That will put moviedom’s most famous spy in direct competition with a live-action fairy tale from Walt Disney Studios.
Eon and MGM also said the script would be written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have teamed up on the screenplays for the last six Bond instalments, starting with The World Is Not Enough in 1999. The next Bond movie — the 25th in the series, if you include Never Say Never Again from 1983, which was made by an outside production company — will be produced by Eon’s Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
The companies said other details, such as the film’s cast and director, would be announced “at a later date,” but Craig’s return is a done deal, according to two people briefed on the matter.
After a gruelling shoot for the last Bond movie, Spectre, Craig expressed a strong desire to move on from the role, which he took over in 2006 with Casino Royale. He later said he had been overtired during that interview with a British magazine and would consider returning. The New York Times
Kendrik Lamar leads VMA nominations
Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” is giving the rapper reason to brag: eight MTV Video Music Awards nominations.
Lamar and his No. 1 song are nominated for Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, Best Hip-Hop Video and other prizes. Katy Perry and The Weeknd have five nominations, while Bruno Mars has four. The 2017 VMAs will air Aug. 27. Other Video of the Year nominees includes Mars’ “24K Magic,” The Weeknd’s “Reminder,” Alessia Cara’s “Scars to Your Beautiful” and “Wild Thoughts,” by DJ Khaled, Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.
A surprise snub was the ubiquitous “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee as well as Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.”